39 questions, answered
Frequently asked questions, for couples and companies coming from abroad
These are the questions that actually arrive from outside Brazil — which are not the ones we get from Rio. Every answer starts with the answer; the detail comes after. If yours is not here, message us on WhatsApp in English: our office hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm (BRT, UTC−3).
The venue and capacity
From 80 to 300 guests at a seated dinner, and up to 400 in a lounge format where not everyone has a seat. Inside that range the number changes with the format — a seated dinner and a standing reception are not the same question — and your consultant confirms it for your date.
What kind of venue is this?
Além do Sonho Eventos is a private garden estate of 50,000 m² inside the city of Rio de Janeiro, used for weddings, corporate events and celebrations. It has an open-air garden for the ceremony, a permanent covered hall with high ceilings, and a pool terrace — three settings on one piece of ground, so a whole event happens without moving anybody between addresses.
Is there a minimum number of guests?
Yes: Além do Sonho Eventos hosts events from 80 guests upwards, and that minimum is firm. Below it the estate does not take a booking, because the whole structure is built to be used — which means an elopement or a very small destination wedding is not a format of this house.
What is the maximum number of guests?
We do not publish a single maximum, because there is not one: the number depends on the format — seated ceremony, seated dinner or standing reception — and on which of the spaces you use. Your consultant confirms the figure for your date and your format before the proposal, rather than after it.
Can we use more than one space in the same event?
Yes, and it is the usual way an event runs here. The classic route is an outdoor ceremony in the garden, drinks in a second space and dinner in the covered hall: guests walk between them, inside the 50,000 m² of the estate, with no transfer and no lost time.
What the venue rental includes
What is included in the venue rental?
The venue rental at Além do Sonho Eventos includes a backup generator, furniture, reception staff, cleaning, a security team, private parking with valet, the house DJ. That is the base scope, and it holds even when you bring everything else from outside. The full proposal adds catering, floral design, planning and the cake — and any of those can be removed.
Is there a backup generator?
Yes, the estate has its own generator, and it is part of the base rental rather than an extra. It exists so that the event does not depend on the local grid — which matters in a wet-season month, when an afternoon storm is a normal event rather than an emergency.
Is there parking, and is it included?
There is private parking inside the estate, with valet, and it is included in the venue rental. Nobody parks on the street and nobody hires a valet company separately. Hired drivers wait on site for the duration of the event.
Is there Wi-Fi, and is the venue accessible?
There is high-speed Wi-Fi across the estate. For accessibility there is step-free access, an adapted bathroom, handrails and a lift between the levels of the ground; the team is briefed to assist guests with reduced mobility. Specific needs are best planned with your consultant before the day.
Marrying in Brazil: legal and symbolic
This is the question that arrives most often and worries people most, so it gets a straight answer: the legal marriage and the ceremony you will remember are two different things, and most international couples separate them deliberately.What follows is general information, not legal advice — confirm the current rules with the cartório and with your own consulate before you commit to anything.
The house does not handle the registry paperwork — that belongs to the couple. What it does is the day: a symbolic ceremony, a religious one, or the civil ceremony itself, with the registry officer coming to the estate at the couple’s request.
Can we legally get married in Brazil as foreigners?
You can — Brazilian law lets foreign visitors marry, and residency is not required — but the legal marriage happens at a cartório, a civil registry office, and the paperwork takes time: passports, birth certificates with an apostille, sworn translations into Portuguese, proof of civil status, and a waiting period between the application and the ceremony that is typically counted in weeks, not days. This is general information and not legal advice: confirm the current requirements with the cartório and with your consulate.
What do most international couples actually do?
Most international couples marry legally in their own country, before or after the trip, and hold a symbolic ceremony in Rio. It is the route that planners, photographers and lawyers writing in English almost all recommend, because it separates the paperwork from the day you will remember — and the symbolic ceremony looks exactly like the legal one, with the same aisle, the same vows and the same photographs.
Does a religious ceremony create a legal marriage in Brazil?
Not on its own. In Brazil the legal act is the civil one, at the cartório; a religious ceremony is a separate event unless it is formally registered with civil effect. For a couple coming from abroad this is usually a relief rather than a complication: it is what makes a symbolic ceremony here entirely normal.
Can same-sex couples marry in Brazil?
Yes. Same-sex marriage has been legal throughout Brazil since 2013, including between two foreign nationals, and Rio de Janeiro is one of the most established destinations in South America for it. As with any marriage here, whether the ceremony is legal or symbolic changes the paperwork, not the welcome.
Do you handle the legal paperwork for us?
No — Além do Sonho Eventos is the venue, not the registry office and not a law firm. We do not file documents, book cartório appointments or provide the celebrant; the celebrant is one of the suppliers you bring. What we do is hold the date, the space and the team for the ceremony you decide to hold, legal or symbolic.
Travel, visas and where guests stay
Visa rules change, and one of them changed recently in a way that catches exactly the guests a destination wedding depends on. Send your list to the official source rather than to a wedding website — including this one.
Do our guests need a visa for Brazil?
It depends on the passport, and it changed recently: citizens of the United States, Canada and Australia need an electronic visa (e-Visa) again, reinstated in April 2025, applied for online before travel. Many other nationalities, including the United Kingdom and the European Union, do not need one for a short tourist stay. Every guest should check their own nationality on the official Brazilian government portal, because this is exactly the rule that changes.
How early should guests apply for the e-Visa?
As early as they book the flight. The authorisation is applied for online, is not instant, and — the part that catches people out — the airline will not issue a boarding pass without a validated authorisation. A guest who leaves it to the airport does not board. Put the deadline in the invitation, not in a group chat.
Which airport should guests fly into?
Galeão (GIG) is the international airport of Rio de Janeiro and the one for guests arriving from abroad. Santos Dumont (SDU), by the city centre, handles domestic routes and is where a connection through São Paulo may land instead. Both are on the far side of the city from the estate, so plan the drive rather than a same-day arrival at the ceremony.
Can guests sleep at the venue?
No. Nobody stays overnight at Além do Sonho Eventos: the suites here are getting-ready rooms for the day of the event, not accommodation. The nearest hotel district is Recreio dos Bandeirantes, a few minutes away by car, and many guests split the trip between a beach neighbourhood and a hotel closer to the venue for the wedding night.
What time zone is Rio de Janeiro in?
Rio runs on BRT, UTC−3, and Brazil no longer changes its clocks for daylight saving. That is worth checking twice when you book a video call with us from North America or Europe, because the offset moves when your own clocks change and ours do not.
What about plugs and voltage?
Rio de Janeiro runs on 127 V and Brazil uses its own socket, type N — the round three-pin one, which fits neither a British nor a North American plug. Guests should pack an adapter, and anyone bringing equipment that expects 220–240 V should check it takes dual voltage.
The full travel guide for your guests · Getting to the estate
Weather and the rain plan
When is the best time of year for a wedding in Rio?
Broadly May, June, September and October: those are the drier, milder months, and they avoid both the peak summer heat and the two weeks — Carnival and New Year — when the whole city fills and travel costs jump for your guests. December to March is hot and humid, with heavy afternoon rain more likely. Southern-hemisphere seasons are inverted, so our winter is your summer.
What happens if it rains on the day?
Every event at Além do Sonho Eventos has a covered space held for it, and most of the estate is under cover — only the ceremony garden is open-air. The covered hall is a permanent room with high ceilings, not a marquee raised for the day, and it takes both the ceremony and the reception with the same finish as the garden.
Is it too hot for a summer wedding here?
The covered spaces are air-conditioned, and the estate sits against Atlantic Forest, which pulls the temperature well below what the same hour feels like on city asphalt. Shade is part of the site rather than something rented for the day. A summer date is normal here; it is the guests flying in from a northern winter who need warning.
Food, drinks and dietary requirements
Do you have your own kitchen?
No — Além do Sonho Eventos works with a partner caterer rather than an in-house kitchen, and there is no exclusivity on the category. You can take the full proposal with catering included, or bring a caterer of your own; what you bring is deducted from the proposal rather than surcharged.
Can we bring our own caterer?
Yes. There is no exclusivity on any category at Além do Sonho Eventos, catering included, and there is no fee for bringing an outside supplier. You can rent the venue alone and bring everything, or take the full proposal and remove the parts you already have.
What about drinks and the open bar?
Beer is included in the full proposal; the open bar is not, and it is always a separate service — which is exactly why you are free to choose it yourself. You can bring your own bar supplier, or take the one company the house recommends for it. Removing the bar reduces the proposal.
Can you handle dietary requirements for guests flying in?
Yes, and the place to settle them is the briefing rather than the week of the wedding. Vegetarian, vegan, allergy and religious requirements are agreed with the caterer while the menu is built, so send the numbers with your guest list. An international guest list makes that conversation longer, not harder.
Suppliers: what you bring and what we provide
Can we bring our own planner, photographer and florist?
You can, and most international couples do. Free at Além do Sonho Eventos: catering, décor and floral design, planning and event management, cake and desserts, bands and entertainment, photography and film. There are two exceptions and only two — the house DJ stays in the proposal, because he also answers for the lighting and the technical rider of the event, and the open bar is a separate service you choose.
Which suppliers do you not provide?
Além do Sonho Eventos does not provide photography and film, hair and make-up, the celebrant, stationery, the open bar — those are yours to bring, whether you find them yourself or through a planner. The venue rental covers the space and the team that runs it; the creative suppliers around your day are your choice, which is the point of having no exclusivity.
Do we need a planner based in Brazil?
You do not have to have one, and plenty of couples work with their own planner from home plus our consultant here. What a local planner buys you is someone in the same time zone who knows the suppliers, the customs and the language — most useful when your guest list is large or your schedule is tight. Either way, we work directly with whoever holds your plan.
Are there restrictions we should know about?
A few, and they are better known early: fireworks are indoor pyrotechnics only, because the estate borders preserved Atlantic Forest; floral work is real flowers only, never artificial; and the estate is non-smoking. Use of the pool during an event is agreed case by case with the house.
Visiting, in person and by video
Can we see the venue without flying to Rio first?
Yes. Além do Sonho Eventos runs a live video call through the estate for couples who cannot come before deciding: someone walks the route your guests will walk and answers while walking, so you can ask them to turn around or go back. It settles the first conversation, but it does not replace walking the ground — scale is the one thing a screen never carries.
How do we book a visit, and do we need an appointment?
Visits are by appointment, Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm (BRT, UTC−3), and they are led one couple at a time by a consultant — turning up unannounced can coincide with a set-up or an event in progress. Book through WhatsApp, the enquiry form or by email, and allow for the drive out here when you plan the day around it.
Is there a tasting, and can we do it while we are here?
There is, but it is a second step on a separate day, not part of the visit: the tasting happens once a month, on a weekday evening, as a group event with several couples, and it is only for people who have already seen the estate. It is complimentary for the couple, 2 people, with guests beyond that paying per head. If your trip is short, tell us early so the dates can be lined up.
Holding a date, and what it costs
We do not publish prices, and that is a rule rather than an oversight: no figure, no range, no “starting from”, in any language. What we publish is how the booking works and what makes the investment move — and the proposal is written for your date.
How far in advance should we book?
About a year is the recommendation at Além do Sonho Eventos, and the calendar opens roughly two years out. Saturdays between October and December go first. If you are choosing between dates from abroad, check our calendar before you book flights or block hotel rooms — the date is the constraint everything else hangs on.
How do we hold a date?
A deposit of 20% of the total, paid on signing the contract, holds the date — it is part of the total, not an addition. The balance is paid in equal instalments up to 30 days before the event. Before the contract there is a 10-day hold: credited if you go ahead, returned if you do not.
How much does a wedding here cost?
We do not publish figures, in any language, and the reason is concrete: a wedding for 80 guests on a Friday in May and one for 250 on a Saturday in December do not cost the same, and an average would describe neither. The date, the day of the week, the guest count, the spaces used and the scope of services set the number, and the proposal is written for your date.
How do we pay from another country?
The payment methods we work with today are Brazilian domestic ones, so the route for a couple or a company paying from abroad is arranged directly with our team before anything is signed. Ask about it in your first message rather than at contract stage — it is a practical question with a practical answer, and it is better settled early than assumed.
Language and communication
Does your team speak English?
Yes, on WhatsApp — that is the channel we answer in English, from your first message through to the written proposal, and it is the one to use. On the day of the event, the coordinator running your wedding speaks English; the wider crew — kitchen, bar, security, valet, technical — works in Portuguese, so brief anything critical through the coordinator. Contracts and formal documents are issued in Portuguese, as Brazilian contracts are; ask us to walk you through any clause before you sign, in English.
What is the best way to reach you from abroad?
WhatsApp, in English. It is how nearly everyone reaches Além do Sonho Eventos, it works from any country, and it keeps the whole conversation in one thread you can scroll back through. Our office hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm (BRT, UTC−3) — check the offset before you expect a reply, because Brazil does not change its clocks.
The next step
Still have a question?
Message a consultant on WhatsApp, in English, Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm (BRT, UTC−3). If you are already in Rio, the visit is by appointment; if you are not, the live video tour is the same walk with someone answering as they go.
Written by Thatiane Pacobahyba, of the Além do Sonho Eventos team.Updated on .
See the venue and get a proposal for your date
Schedule a visit
Visits are by appointment, Tuesday to Saturday, 9am to 5pm, guided by a consultant. You walk the whole property and leave with a proposal for your date.